Web Acquiring — Why Your Business Needs It

Online acquiring is a crucial component of every type of business. We'll tell you why you need it, how it works, and how to integrate it in your company.

What is web acquiring & how it works?

Every time you want to pay for a new pair of jeans in an internet store or for a spicy falafel in a brick-and-mortar café with a bank card, an invisible assistant comes into play.

It’s called online or web acquiring. So, in simple terms, an online acquiring service allows a venue to accept payments made with one of the compatible credit/debit cards from an authorized card issuer.

So, once you swipe your bank card through the card-reading machine at the store, a chain reaction begins:

• Quick check. The acquirer needs to make sure that here’s money on your bank account. That it's actually you who pays with it. That there's no fraud taking place, and so on. So, a special signal is sent to your provider through the network.
• Response. If the required sum of money is really there and nothing suspicious is happening, the provider gives a thumbs up for the payment acceptance.
• Deduction. Finally, acquirer withdraws the money from your account and transfers it to the merchant before the daily settlement.

Nice and simple! This procedure is charmingly laconic and involves just a few counterparties:

• Customer: Makes a purchase at a physical store or online venue
• Acquirer bank: Acquirer banks provide info on whether the transfer is legit or not and then give a green light for the transaction to happen
• Issuing bank: A bank that issued the customer’s card.
• Service provider: It’s a company that makes the entire procedure of online acquiring simple and clear by integrating the merchant’s online store, mobile cash register, etc. with the acquirer bank.

For both sides — a customer and a merchant acquiring the money — the entire process takes less than 1 second. (Although, don’t forget that it can take up to 48 hours for the funds deducted to be moved).

What kind of business can contribute from it?

The answer is straightforward: online acquiring is an absolute must-have for every enterprise that sells goods and services. 

And it doesn't matter if talk about the electronic commerce or online boutiques that reside comfortably on Instagram’s commercial platform. And there are some solid reasons.

For starters, contactless payment has been gaining momentum lately. Especially since the early dawn of the pandemic era.

And even though cash money won’t become a historic atavism any time soon, as the Bank of England reports, customers will treat physical banknotes with caution.

Then, your business should provide every customer with as much convenience as possible. People prefer having just a small amount of cash in their pockets for random expenses. And serious payments are usually made with a card, as everyday practice shows.

And of course, you can't forget about the latest trends: businesses have to go digital. And it’s not just a fad artificially boosted by marketing gurus. It’s more of a matter of survival.

At the moment, about 70% of all American businesses prefer working via Instagram and other similar platforms like Facebook. There, they can advertise their brands, find clientele, use analytical and demographic tools, employ free promotion through hashtags, and so on.

And the reason for this eCommerce migration is people. People seem to enjoy virtual shopping more and more, especially now when another lockdown can break out any moment.

So, if your company doesn't have a website or at least an Instagram account through which your customers can request whatever you can offer — it’s right about time to do adopt the “going digital” strategy.

Successful Integration: How?

To connect acceptance of a bank card to your business, you may need some help from a professional team — the acquiring service provider. And here's why.

In reality a regular bank can provide the same acquiring services. But there's a catch: you will pay a much higher price, which may not be acceptable for your company. Especially if your business is still in its early stages.

An acquiring provider can offer a more comprehensive service at a more affordable price. This benefit comes from a fact that such a company has a big pool of clients, which in turn allows it to get the acquiring service at a "wholesale" price, so to say.

And apart from basic acquiring we offer a whole repertoire of extra options: anti-fraud protection, comprehensive analytical tools, and other crucial features.

Usually, integration is available in different plans or service packages. They determine a feature palette that will be at your disposal, as well as the connection fee.

Depending on your budget, vision and goals, you can get:

Plan Type	Integration Time	What It is
Basic	Less than one hour	A compact widget placed on your website that provides one-touch service connection.
Template	Minimum 3 hours	A more comprehensive payment template with features like online crediting.
Template Plus	Minimum 10 hours	A template with more feature available such as charging recurring payments for regular customers, etc.
Custom	—	A solution tailored individually to solve your company’s needs.

As you can see, there’s a solution for every business type: from a humble online store that only begins a business odyssey to a whole corporation that has multiple branches throughout the country.

How to find a reliable acquiring provider?

But before you invest in a such a provider, here are some of the features they should typically offer:

• Omni channel solution to accept all types of payments
• Multi-currency payments.
• Out-of-box solution and quick integration.
• AML & Anti-fraud monitoring and prevention
• Flexible traffic management.
• User-friendly back office giving you all the necessary features.
• Customized payment form in a PCI DSS secured environment, which makes money transferring highly secure for both sides

And many other services.

As you can see, it’s an impressive feature list. And we can provide all of them and even more. 

If necessary, we’ll design a solution from scratch if you need to connect acquiring based on your unique goals and strategies. We provide client support around the clock and make sure that e-payments always come through: no glitches, errors or delays.

Target acquired

Contact us and choose acquiring for the electronic bank payments — it is one of the pillars of the today’s business. And it will be a reliable basis for your company’s success.